The Eternal Snowlands
by jade
Summary: AU. On Harry’s fifteenth birthday, he wakes up to the whole castle being covered in snow! But that’s not normal weather for July and everyone knows it. What is going on in the mysterious lands to the North?
1. Chapter 1

Welcome back my good friends. This story is the sixth story in the _Inferiorum_ series. The first five stories can be read in any order but you _must _read all five stories before starting this one or it won't make sense as those are all character background stories. And now, to my returning fans, I say, come on in!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…

Warnings: Wouldn't you like to know!

* * *

**The Eternal Snowlands**

**Chapter One**

"It was a full moon and, shining on all that snow, it made everything almost as bright as day—only the shadows were rather confusing."

-_The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe_

* * *

"Old McGonagall nearly murdered them when she realized what they had done." Ron finished his story, lying back on the green grass. Harry laughed at the latest tale of Fred and George's pranks. Tomorrow was his birthday and that meant it had been two whole years since he had left the Dursleys home to come live at Hogwarts—and that he'd be fifteen.

"Well, if they hadn't gotten Tonks to turn into Sprout…" Harry wished he had the genius that the twins seemed to possess when it came to getting in trouble. "Wish I could have been there to see it…" Harry had been held back by Snape, who made him clean up all the puffer fish eyeballs that were on the floor around where his cauldron had been set up. It was all because he had been trying to ignore Draco Malfoy, who kept shooting them at him and then finally shot one back, and Snape had just happened to see.

"Snape's a slimy git." Ron seemed to read Harry's mind. "Let's go see what Ginny and Hermione are up to." He gestured at the two girls, who were sitting in the shade of a large oak tree, doing something with paper. Ron and Harry usually hung out with Hermione and Ginny after lessons. Harry liked them because Hermione didn't care about getting dirt in her hair, even if she was a bit of a know-it-all—though she had gotten much better since the first time he met her—and Ginny because she was always willing to go along with any ideas they had.

"Ron, Harry, come help us." Hermione had spotted them coming and was now waving them over with a pair of scissors in her hand.

"What are you guys making?" Harry looked at the paper that Hermione was cutting up. Ginny was folding the small pieces of paper into an odd shape and then adding it to others already folded with the help of a useful charm. Although Ginny was the youngest, she was really good at magic and knew all sorts of useful little charms. Ron sometimes complained about the fact that Ginny got to come to school earlier than he did, but for the most part, the two of them got along really well.

"Pin Wheels." Hermione declared, holding up a finished product. There was a thin, rounded, wooden stick, that had what looked like a paper flower, or maybe a sunburst at one end. "I said something about how hot it was after class today and McGonagall showed me this book…" She held up a book that had an illustration of the exact same thing she had held up to them. "Watch!" She blew on the Pin Wheel and it began to spin. It kept spinning though and she held it up to Harry's face. A cool, refreshing steady breeze was coming from it.

"Hey, neat." Harry took hold of it. "Is it a charm?"

"Yes, it's a really easy one too." Hermione explained.

"Here's another one, Hermione." Ginny held out one, this one's pin wheel was a lilac color.

"_Afflo frigero._" Hermione murmured as she tapped it with her wand. The pin wheel glowed blue for a moment and then stopped. Harry handed her back the pin wheel he had been holding, which was blue. "I suppose you'll want this one, right Ginny?"

"How'd you guess?" Ginny cracked a smile.

"Because purple is your favorite color." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's do a green one for Harry and a red one for Ron."

"As long as it isn't maroon." Ron reminded them.

"Be quiet or I'll make it blow hot air." Hermione threatened him good-naturedly. "I heard some silly business about Fred, George, Tonks, McGonagall, and man-eating dandelions."

"It's true." Harry and Ron said together.

"I figured it was true." Hermione pursed her lips. "Really, we're here to learn magic, not to torment the instructors…"

"Fred and George are just having a bit of fun." Ginny defended them, as she always did. Harry supposed it all came from back when they were all together in the city of Fal.

"Hi!" Neville Longbottom ran up to them. "What are you guys doing?"

"Making Pin Wheels." Hermione explained. "Do you want to help?"

"Okay!" Neville sat down and got out his wand. "What should I do?" Hermione looked apprehensive for a moment, and with good reason. Neville was really nice—no one could deny that, but he was a bit hopeless when it came to magic. Harry and Ron took seats and the instructions on how to make them were laying open in the middle of all of them. Hermione handed Harry a sheet of white paper and he took out his wand, tapped the sheet once and it immediately turned green.

His wand, which he had laid eyes on for the first time two years ago, had been given to him by Albus Dumbledore. He would never forget that meeting as long as he lived. Dumbledore could often be seen at the castle, wandering through, but it was the only time they had ever had a conversation. The twinkle in Dumbledore's eye, the way he seemed to know everything, and best of all, when Dumbledore revealed to Harry that not all of his family was dead—his godfather was still alive.

It had been news to Harry that he even _had _a godfather. Sirius Black, who was often gone for long amounts of time "on duty", but would come back to visit with Harry and would tell him about all the things he and James Potter would get up to back when they were Harry's age. Although Sirius had been named Harry's godfather, Harry had not been sent to live with the joking, cheerful man. He had no idea why.

"Aye," Sirius would say whenever Harry would try to get him to answer. "Your father and mother…it was the only thing I think they really fought about…but that's all in the past…"

Harry glanced over to see Neville tap his own sheet of paper and instead of turning a certain color, it became a pattern of little toads.

"Wow, how did you do that, Neville?" Ginny asked, looking at his excitingly.

"I was trying to turn it yellow." Neville looked at the piece of paper mournfully. Neville was fully aware that his capacity towards magic wasn't on par with some of the others.

"I think that the toads are much better than plain yellow." Ginny wrinkled her nose.

"Pin Wheels?" Fred was leaning over Ron's shoulder. "I remember coming across those somewhere…trying to keep cool?"

"We've got lines tonight." George was standing next to his twin. "McGonagall's got no sense of humor."

"I second that." Fred's voice said but Harry realized there was a third Weasley twin standing there. "Maybe the badger was going a bit far…" The third twin noticed that everyone was staring and then looked down at themselves. "Oh, have it your way." And the third twin turned into Tonks.

"Hey, you guys." Cho Chang had now joined the group. She squeezed into a seat between Ron and Harry. "Oh! Pin Wheels! That's so neat! Hey, have any of you seen Blaise Zabini?"

"Have you checked all the mirrors?" Ginny joked quietly. The group laughed, except for Cho.

"Well, no, I haven't…" Cho stood up. "I'll go check then!" And she bounced off.

"Those two sure are made for each other." Fred commented as he watched her run back up to the castle.

"How so?" Tonks had scrambled up the oak tree and was now dangling upside down from a branch right above their heads.

"Blaise wants people to admire him all day and Cho has the intelligence of a mirror." George remarked.

"Come on you guys, Cho's nice." Hermione tried to defend the girl but she was smiling a little.

"Ah, Hermione, always trying to look on the bright side." Fred grinned. "Well, we've still got time to charm the clock in the main hall…let's get going George."

"Indeed." George agreed and the two twins walked back towards the castle.

"I hope they don't do anything to get themselves into more trouble." Hermione sighed as Neville did the charm on his Pin Wheel, only to have it turn into a small block of ice.

"I rather like writing lines…you can just sort of drift off while you do it…" Luna's voice said calmly above their heads and Tonks let out a yell and fell out of the tree in surprise. Looking up, Harry could see that Luna was now dangling upside down like Tonks had been, and somehow gotten there without Tonks noticing at all—which shocked her so bad that she fell out of the tree. Tonks was irritably brushing grass off herself. "I am sorry Nymphadora."

"Don't call me Nymphadora." Tonks spoke absent-mindedly. "It's no problem Luna…just, give me a warning next time, okay?"

"Oh look, it's arts and crafts time." A sneering voice made them all look up and glare. Draco Malfoy was standing there, his arms folded across his chest imperiously. "I can't believe you're bothering with this rubbish…"

"Why don't you just clear off, then?" Harry asked him hotly. Draco seemed to find nothing better than coming over and mocking anything they ever did. He seemed to think everything activity was beneath him. As always, Theodore Nott was with him. Theodore Nott didn't usually talk to anybody, he just sat there with a bored, uncaring expression across his face.

"Yes, but if I do, who will be there to laugh when Longbottom accidentally sets his own underpants on fire?" Draco drawled lazily. "Oh wait, that's only during Transfiguration lessons, isn't it?" Two weeks earlier, Neville had done just that. Neville's ears went bright red and he looked down at his Pin Wheel, which Ginny had just fixed.

"I thought you came over to see what Harry was doing." Luna, who was still hanging upside down, stated in a bemused tone. "You're always following him around." Draco suddenly looked too furious to speak and sputtered for a few moments. Ginny giggled into her hands before quelling it when she saw the stern look Hermione was giving her.

"I'd expect such a stupid thing coming out of the mouth of an uneducated peasant." Draco spat, but it was clear that this had absolutely no effect on Luna who sat up in the tree and pulled out a peppermint stick, which reminded Hermione strongly of her cousin Jane. Draco stomped off and Nott walked after him.

"Good job, Luna." Ron nodded his approval at the strange girl. "Do you want a Pin Wheel?"

"The wheel keeps on turning." Luna sing-songed from her perch.

"Barking." Ron muttered to Harry.

"I heard Lupin's visiting the castle in two weeks." Ginny told them all as she worked on another Pin Wheel.

"He is?" Hermione looked up, slightly flushed. Harry wondered how that was possible with the Pin Wheel blowing on her. Harry thought Lupin was really cool. He was a werewolf who would visit the school and give them practical lessons on magical defense. Best of all, when he visited, it usually meant a visit from Sirius as well. Lupin had also been friends with Harry's dad and would join in any stories about their younger days.

"Which means Sirius should be visiting too." Ginny added on, though she had a very knowing look on her face. "Here, Luna, I made you one." She stood up and Luna reached down from the branch she was sitting on to get the white Pin Wheel. Luna took out her own wand and tapped it, turning each spoke a different color, before blowing on it.

"I wonder what Sirius always goes off to do." Harry wondered for about the billionth time. They all knew that the adults were caught up in different things, but no one knew exactly what, except that it had to do with the Death Eaters and Voldemort. But to them, in their valley, in Hogwarts, all that seemed to be a thousand miles away.

"You know they aren't going to tell us." Ron reminded him.

"Look!" Neville exclaimed. "I made one all by myself this time and I didn't mess it up!" He held the Pin Wheel in the air triumphantly. Neville was different from Harry and Hermione, he had family that lived in the country to the south of the mountains. An old grandmother that Harry had only met a few times but was terrified of accidentally crossing. He could imagine that Neville, clumsy and easily scared as he was, was probably how anyone would turn out after living with a person like that.

"Good for you, Neville." Hermione stood up, brushing grass off her. "I'm going to go in." They all agreed on this and Hermione was about to grab the paper and the book they were using but Ron picked it up for her. The six of them, Tonks, Neville, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were walking along easily, with the seventh person, Luna, trailing behind them. She had put her hair up in a bun and used the Pin Wheel to keep it in place, so that it hung over the top of her head and blew cold air on her—which actually was rather smart, even if it did look funny.

As they were going up to the doors, Hermione suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Ginny asked her as Hermione bent down.

"Oh, it's nothing really…" Hermione looked up sheepishly. "I've just never seen this type of flower before." She gestured to a small growth of small blue flowers, eight or nine blooms altogether. "I should take them with me and look them up." She picked the bunch of flowers and carefully held them with both hands so she wouldn't crush any of the petals.

"I don't recognize them either." Neville spoke up as they began walking again. Neville was really great at Herbology, mostly because it required almost no spellwork.

"Maybe I'll show them to Sprout tomorrow." Hermione decided.

"I wonder what's for dinner?" Ron's stomach made a noise.

"Luna's probably not hungry, she's already taken a slice out of Malfoy's enormous ego." Ginny quipped. The others laughed.

"They're impossible to make friends with." Hermione shook her head in a disappointed fashion. "You would think it would be lonely for them but I guess not…"

"Who cares about them?" Harry shrugged. "I'm with Ron, what's for dinner?"

* * *

"That idiot…" Draco huffed as he sat in his room, across from Nott, who was reading a book—not that Draco was paying any attention. "I'd like to teach that Loony Lovegood a lesson…the nerve of her suggesting...where she even came up with it…"

"Why is it bothering you so much?" Nott turned a page in his book, not even looking up.

"Because none of them can comprehend that they should all hold me in the deepest respect." Draco answered easily. "I'm a _Malfoy_. Have I really sunk so low that a bunch of peasant children can take swings at my reputation?"

"You don't have a reputation here, your last name means absolutely nothing here, and you're giving me a headache." Nott glared at him. "Now either shut up or get out."

"Why Nott, I had no idea you cared." Draco replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Or are you playing hard to get again?" Nott groaned and rolled over so that he was facing the wall. "What's your report going to look like if you keep staring at the walls? 'Dear Voldemort, the walls are indeed made of stone'?"

"Will you shut up about that?" Nott sat up. "We've never been asked to make a report in the whole two years we've been here. I think they just sent us here to get rid of us." They didn't often talk about what they were really there for. Draco had seem to half forget life before Hogwarts and was usually busy trying to find ways to lord himself over the teenagers there. The only change Draco noted in Nott was that Nott hadn't attempted to run away.

"Yes, but then my father would have to get my mother pregnant again and I think that scares even him." Draco joked jovially. Just then, the door opened and Blaise Zabini came in, looking a little paranoid, shutting the door behind him quickly and locking it. "Zabini, what are you doing in here?"

"It's the only room Cho won't go into." Blaise told him. "She keeps following me around."

"Then hex her until she stops." Draco shrugged. "It's not my problem."

"Come on you guys…" Blaise pleaded. "I thought we were friends." Nott snorted derisively in response to what he clearly thought was an accusation.

"Zabini, you know perfectly well that the only reason I let you hang around us at all is because Nott doesn't like taking orders." Draco admonished, waving a finger in the air. "Although, you are a pretty useless lackey whenever there's a reflective surface around…or Ginny Weasley." Blaise flushed instantly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Blaise spoke defiantly.

"Fine, have it your way." Draco sat down on his bed. "Or maybe _I'll_ have my way with _her_." Blaise goggled at him. Draco was rather enjoying this. "She is cute—if you go in for that whole poor farm girl thing. I don't understand how a whole family of wizards didn't have the sense to be born noble."

"You're both insufferable idiots." Nott spoke up from his bed.

"Thank you for that wonderful sentiment, Nott. It's times like these when I'm reminded why we're the best of friends, almost brothers." Draco then turned towards the still goggling Blaise. "Zabini, I was joking. For making me waste my wit on you, I should throw you out of the only Cho-Free Zone, but I'm feeling compassionate towards my fellow man. Provided that during Potions tomorrow you make yourself useful as a diversion so I can get revenge on Loony Lovegood."

"That's so stupid, why do you even care?" Nott asked in an exasperated voice.

"I don't, she's just an easy target." Draco shrugged. "And it'll be amusing, I promise."

"What should I do?" Blaise asked, smoothing his hair down while looking at the small mirror on the wall.

"And I thought I was vain." Draco rolled his eyes at him. "I don't know, use your brains."

"Alright, alright." Blaise seemed to come up with something. "What are you going to do?"

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you." Draco leaned back, putting his arms behind his head. Blaise often wondered how Draco and Nott had gotten to be friends at all—if you could call at that with the two of them always making jabs at each other. They never talked about what had happened to them before they had gotten to Hogwarts. Zabini's grandmother had been a mistress of the last King of Annwyn. His mother, who had turned out to be a witch, was burned at the stake. Apparently, even though she was actually a witch, the reason that she had been brought to the Guard's attention in the first place was she had supposedly been bewitching the husbands of all the women in the town—which she hadn't actually been doing. After she died, a person came for Zabini and found out that he was a wizard, so they took him to live at Hogwarts.

Ever since he had gotten there, he had not fit in with either group. He liked looking at himself, he saw no reason why he shouldn't—he had inherited all the good looks their family had been known for, so why he shouldn't always make sure he was looking his best was beyond him. The other group always made fun of him, and even though Draco and Nott did it too, they at least didn't shun him completely. He was brainless, he just knew that his looks were his greatest asset. Otherwise, he'd just be…ordinary. And there's no way that anyone would like twice at someone who was ordinary, especially not…

He preened a bit more in the mirror.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

I would like everyone to know that I've actually drawn a map of the Eternal Snowlands, in my notebook, noting where everything was. Plus there's little arrows and notes taken all around the map, so it looks like the Eternal Snowlands is located in a sea of words…I'm glad everyone's loving Luna in this story, I'm trying my best with her and I've come to like her since the sixth book. Read on homies.

Megan: If I told you what ships I was doing, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it? (Interesting fact, I drew one of the pairings in this series out of a hat. It's true.) But don't worry, you'll know eventually…

Pobbin: Indeed, I do immensely enjoy writing Nott. Anytime someone is being annoying or taking themselves too seriously, I know he's there to insult them. I wish I could write a story all from his point of view, but I think it would mainly consist of him muttering threats under his breath. Anyways, no, this story will have more than four chapters. As for those flowers Hermione found…well…you'll see.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…

Warnings: Mild swearing, snow, and bunny ears…

* * *

**The Eternal Snowlands**

**Chapter Two**

* * *

Harry's eyes opened lazily on the morning of his birthday. He saw that his room was still rather dark and so he rolled over and went back to sleep. It seemed like only a few minutes had gone by when suddenly, Fred started shaking him awake.

"Harry, get _up_, you have to see!" Fred's voice sounded excited and Harry opened his eyes. "Besides, you'll be late for lessons if you sleep any longer."

"But it's still dark outside." Harry saw that indeed, the room was still fairly dark.

"I know, but that's because…well…look for yourself." Fred handed Harry his glasses. He put them on and glanced over at Ron, who was staring out the window with George. Harry turned and looked out his own window. His mouth dropped open.

The entire valley was covered in snow. Even during the winter months, it never had nearly this much snow. And it didn't seem possible that it snowed this much over night. Harry hadn't gone to sleep until midnight, waking up Ron to announce that he was now fifteen and then going to bed. Ron had been annoyed with him but seemed to understand his excitement. There definitely hadn't been any snow then.

The sky was dark grey with heavy clouds, which threatened even more snow. It was so hot yesterday, how could it suddenly be cold enough for snow? He heard his door opened and turned to see Hermione, Ginny, and Tonks come in.

"Have you seen the snow?" Hermione asked, even though they clearly had. "I ran to look out the front door and the lake's frozen over too! Do you realize how cold it has to get for a lake that size to completely freeze over?"

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell us." Ron muttered. "Do you think lessons will be canceled because of the snow?" He sounded hopeful.

"Nah, Snape would probably give out candy before he'd let us take a day off for snow." Fred shot down that idea. "Although, it'll be great stuff to play in, won't it? We should have a snowball fight—but no magic, only prowess and strategy."

"I get Ron." Harry immediately claimed.

"Oh, playing it smart, are we?" George grinned. "Well, we get Tonks."

"I call no using magical powers either." Ron declared. "It's not fair if Tonks just turns white so she can blend in."

"Oh, bugger." Tonks swore and the others laughed.

"Still, this snow is rather odd and it's freezing outside!" Hermione exclaimed, shivering a little. Harry noticed that it was rather cold in the room and wasn't looking forward to getting out from beneath his warm blankets. "It's cold in here, just a sec." She dashed out of the room again.

"We get Ginny too." Harry decided after a moment.

"What! Ginny's on our side." Fred almost looked offended. "It's an unspoken law."

"You can have Hermione." Harry offered.

"Hermione can't throw." George snorted. Then he stopped. "Okay, but as a handicap, you have to have Chang."

"No way!" Ron protested. "She'll quit after she gets hit once!"

"Then you can't have Ginny." Fred went to put an arm around Ginny's shoulders.

"Fine, we'll take Cho but then you guys have to have Luna." Harry negotiated. "Take it or leave it."

"Agreed." George went over to shake Harry's hand. "Unless Zabini…?"

"Zabini doesn't want to play, his hair will get messed up." Ron rolled his eyes. Hermione came back into the room with a glass jar. They all knew what this was for. Hermione's specialty was these blue, portable little fires that she'd put in jars on particularly cold days. After muttering the incantation, the room began to warm up immediately. She set the jar down on Harry's desk.

"We've already got one in our room." Tonks piped up. "It's nice and warm in there."

"You'll need that fire." Luna had wandered into the room. "For the Snow Bunnies."

"Snow Bunnies?" Hermione's face screwed up in confusion.

"Yes, they're always about in the snow." Luna nodded. As always, her little sack of seeds hung off her waist. No one understood why she carried them around, but after hearing the story of her throwing the handful at Instructor Snape and then meeting Snape, Harry had an enormous amount of respect for Luna's courage—which was more a very loose grip of what was going on around her then anything.

Severus Snape, who taught Potions, _hated _Harry. But he also seemed to hate Sirius and Lupin too. Sirius would call him names and Lupin would sigh and shake his head, but Harry didn't understand why on Earth Snape hated him so much. He often brought up Harry's father, so his only guess—which was backed by evidence—was that Snape hated Harry's father and so just transferred his hate to him.

"We better all get dressed." Hermione told them in her normal, bossy tone. "We'll be late for breakfast and lessons."

They all dispersed after this, except Ron and Harry, who got dressed as quickly as possible before going to meet the others down at breakfast. Hermione was already there, even though she not only had to get dressed but she made a few more jarred fires for every bedroom but Draco and Theodore's. As Harry and Ron past the clock in the main hall to get to the dining hall, it began to sing a song that seemed to be called, "Master Martin's Wand Trouble" and didn't seem to have a whole lot to do with magic.

"Instructor." Hermione hailed McGonagall over. Minerva McGonagall, who was very stern and proper looking at all times, tended to be rather intimidating but she seemed rather fond of Hermione. "We were just wondering about the snow."

"Yes," McGonagall glanced out the window. "We aren't exactly sure ourselves, Miss Granger. We can only make guesses at this point."

"Who's that?" Tonks suddenly asked. McGonagall turned to look at her and saw that she was pointing out the window. They all craned their necks to see but all Harry saw was a slight glimmer of something disappear behind a tree.

"I don't see anyone." McGonagall looked both ways out the window. "What did they look like?"

"It was a woman, in a white dress." Tonks answered. "She was kind of hard to see, except that she was wearing that crown…"

"A crown?" McGonagall glanced at Tonks. "Are you feeling alright, Miss Tonks?"

"I'm feeling fine." Tonks looked irritable. "I saw someone just then."

"Maybe we shouldn't go to lessons, what with strangers wandering the grounds." Fred piped up, looking awfully concerned about the welfare of the students.

"Mr. Weasley," McGonagall's voice was as sharp as a knife. "_You _will be attending lessons all day or I will have you scrubbing this whole castle from top to bottom. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Instructor…" Fred and George chorused together in a defeated tone.

Harry glanced out the window behind him and caught a glimpse of something…_someone_…who was dressed all in white, with something atop their head. Who was that? The figure stopped and looked up, as though she was looking straight up at him, and Harry had the strangest idea that she _could _see him. But the figure disappeared again.

_Who is it?_

_Are they the reason for all the snow?_

* * *

The last lesson of the day was Potions. Harry was trying desperately to get his Pepperup Potion to thicken like it was supposed to but nothing he was doing was helping. He looked pleadingly over at Hermione but she was too busy trying to help Neville, who's Potion had bit him. Ron wasn't faring too much better, his potion had thickened, but way too much.

Harry glanced around the room to see that Fred and George's potion was looking alright; Draco's was perfect; Nott's looked like it was supposed to; Tonks was having trouble making her potion turn grey (it was an off white for some reason); Luna's was smoking heavily but she kept adding things to it, not seeming to notice what she was doing or even where she was; Cho's robes had caught on fire; Ginny had just gotten hers to the correct consistency and color; and Zabini was standing on his stool. Harry blinked.

_Why is Zabini standing on his stool?_

"Zabini!" Snape barked at him. "Get off that stool this instant!"

"I think there's a leak in my cauldron!" Zabini protested.

"That's no reason to act like an idiot, this potion can't possible hurt you." Snape stalked over to Zabini's cauldron. Cho was still trying to put out her robes and knocked over Ginny's cauldron by accident. Snape growled in annoyance at this and Ginny looked like she wanted to murder Cho. Harry glanced over and saw Draco was just coming back to his cauldron. What was that about? The pale boy was darting glances over at Luna's cauldron. Harry's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Luna was holding dandelion milk in one hand and humming to herself, looking up at the ceiling. Harry had a really terrible feeling as she looked like she was about to pour the contents into her cauldron. He saw the look on Draco's face and knew that he had done something.

"Wait! Luna, don't—!" Harry was cut as Luna poured and there was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared and everyone got up from where they had thrown themselves on the floor, Luna was standing there, blinking at her potion.

With a pair of large, white bunny ears attached to the top of her head.

"I don't think that was part of the recipe." Luna put a hand to the side of her face. One of her ears drooped down halfway, while the other stood straight up. "Hmm…Instructor, there seems to be a problem with my potion."

"Luna! You have—you have bunny ears!" Ginny declared.

"I didn't think they were that big myself." Luna observed.

"No, here…" Ginny looked around and then spotted Zabini. "Zabini, give me your mirror."

"I don't—" Zabini began but then cut himself off. He pulled it out almost sheepishly. Ginny ran it over to Luna who looked in the mirror, blinked in only mild surprise—as though she'd been expecting this any day now.

"My, they are nice, aren't they?" Luna looked extremely pleased with herself.

"What did you put into your potion!" Snape finally seemed to recover. "Were you following the directions at _all_?"

Luna just gave him a level stare for a few moments that Snape couldn't argue with. He glared around the room, hoping to find someone else to blame this on but Harry knew that he wouldn't pick Draco, even though Draco was laughing silently behind his cauldron. Harry knew it would do him no good to even point a finger of blame at him to Snape.

"You will go directly to Madam Pomfrey, Miss Lovegood." Snape told her, he was still rather livid. "And you will then start composing an essay on exactly what you did wrong."

"Excuse me, but doing that essay would imply I did something wrong." One of Luna's ears twitched, which didn't really help anyone take her seriously. "And if my desired result was to have bunny ears so that I could capture an elusive Snow Bunny, than I did it right."

"That's—not—what—a—Pepperup—Potion—does!" Snape seethed through his teeth.

"Severus!" Instructor Flitwick came into the room. He taught Charms and was a small man, who was rumored to have dwarf blood in him. "You must come quickly, Dumbledore's request! We're having a meeting in the dining hall—none of the students are allowed." Snape looked deeply disappointed that he didn't get to inflict further punishment and he waved his wand, which caused the entire dungeon to be cleared of the remains of everyone's potions.

"We'll redo this lesson tomorrow—and every last one of you will make the potion correctly." His glare screamed, 'Or else!' at them. Then he swept out of the dungeon. Harry immediately stalked across the room, grabbed Draco by the collar, and shoved him up against a wall.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What did you do to Luna's potion?" Harry asked him.

"Nothing." Draco turned his head away. "Not a thing, now release me."

"What did you do?" Harry asked again, slamming him once more against the wall.

"He put Itching Powder in my bag." Luna spoke up. Harry turned slowly to look at her. "I saw him do it…"

"And you didn't say anything to him?" Tonks questioned in a tone that said she thought Luna was out of her mind.

"No, I thought it was funny." Luna tapped her book bag with her wand. "I think it was definitely the dandelion milk…I suppose I can go hunt for Snow Bunnies…" She picked up her bag and wandered out of the dungeon.

"Are you going to let me go or were you just looking for an excuse to pin me against a wall?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry who let him go and turned away. Was Luna really telling the truth? But then, Luna never actually _lied_…

"Come on." Fred gestured as Draco and Nott left the room, closely followed by Zabini, who took a last glance at Ginny over his shoulder. Cho was quick to follow. "George and I are going to find out what's going on in the dining room."

"How? Flitwick said that we weren't allowed…" Hermione trailed off.

"Yes, yes, he did." George agreed in a tone that suggested this had almost nothing to do with what was actually going. "Follow us."

"Oh, I know where we're going." Ginny stated and helped the twins lead the way for them. Neville came after them, looking happy that today, he wasn't going to get told off by Snape about how bad his potion was. (It had sounded as though it was gaining the power of speech before Snape had cleared it away.)

They followed Fred and George until they got to a tapestry of fauns dancing in the moonlight with nymphs and when they moved it aside, they saw that there was a secret passageway there. At the end of this passageway, there were two ways one could go. They went to the left and soon Harry saw that they were in part of the wall in the dining room, able to look out on the room. It was a bit cramped and everyone was trying to get a better view of the happenings but they all quickly shut up to hear.

Harry looked out and saw that Dumbledore was sitting at the head of the table and the figure he had seen from afar was standing in the dining room as well. She looked about seven feet tall and her presence suggested overall that she was not human. She could pass for human, maybe, but her hair was so white that it had a bluish hue to it, her skin so white that the white tablecloths looked gray, and her eyes were an alarming, piercing blue.

She was wearing a white dress, just as both he and Tonks had observed. Around her neck were ropes of pearls and on her head, just as Tonks had described, was a high crown that added another foot or so to her height and was white as well.

"Who is she?" Hermione murmured.

"Shhh!" Several of them hissed in reply.

"Are you sure you would not like a seat?" Dumbledore offered this woman.

"Yes, I am sure." Her voice was cold; it made a chill run down Harry's spine.

"Please, tell me who you are and how I can be of assistance to you?" Harry noticed the other Instructors and staff were seated at the table, looking rather uneasy in the presence of this woman.

"I am known as Chionia, I am the Queen of the Eternal Snowlands." She declared. "And I have come for help, to drive the intruders from my lands."

"The Eternal Snow Queen?" Hermione murmured. "I thought it was just a myth…"

"Hermione, no offense, but now is not the time…" Ron hissed at her.

"Intruders?" Dumbledore inquired politely, his fingers pressed together as he regarded her. Harry wondered how Dumbledore could look so calm. McGonagall was obviously suppressing the urge to put on more layers, Flitwick was outright shivering, and everyone else was at varying degrees of uneasiness and cold.

"Men who have come to my lands, demanding that I share my secrets with them. Men who have killed some of my nixies, who have threatened to kill more, if I did not give up the secret to my immortality to them." Chionia's voice rang through the hall and Harry could tell that she was in a state of fury right then. "Give me your assistance in driving them out and I will reward you."

"I would love to agree to help you this very moment and leave as soon as possible _but_…" Dumbledore hesitated for a moment. "I must carefully organize this, we are fighting our own battles here, so I must decide who can be spared for such a mission. This might take a little time. You are welcome to stay here for as long as it takes."

"My nixies are dying _now_." Chionia's voice became a deadly whisper. "They have had to go into hiding, I came here in the hopes of finding help…there are dangers…immediate dangers…" She didn't seem to be able to vocalize what she was wanting to say.

"I understand your situation and I promise to try and get this ready as quickly as possible." Dumbledore swore. "Then we will go to your land and drive out the intruders." Chionia was shaking a little and Harry could tell she was angry. Why didn't Dumbledore just help her? What could possibly be hindering him?

Then she turned and swept out of the dining hall. From the sounds of it, the great front doors opened and slammed shut behind her.

"Albus, do you think it wise to wait?" McGonagall turned towards Dumbledore.

"I think the two men best suited for the job are far from my castle and it will take time to bring them here." Dumbledore answered in a tone that left no room for argument. "It sounds as though the Death Eaters have gone to the Eternal Snowlands…" There were several gasps. "Voldemort is still desperate in his search…"

"Come on." Fred tugged on George's sleeve and they all filed out, back down the secret passage and didn't stop until they got to the common room. No one else was in there.

"Death Eaters!" Hermione was obviously unable to keep up her silence any longer than that. "And the Eternal Snow Queen! But if there's Death Eaters in the Eternal Snowlands, why doesn't Dumbledore send someone up there right away?"

"Everyone is busy here, they all have things they're supposed to be doing." Harry answered uneasily. "Except for us."

"But while she's here, let's enjoy the snow!" George interrupted the conversation. The others looked at the twins who just started laughing. "You guys are being way too serious. Dumbledore seems to know what he's about. He said he wanted to wait for the best people to do it…"

The others seemed to agree with that and everyone went off to get suited up for the snow. Harry couldn't help but think that if only there was some way _he _could do something so that Dumbledore didn't have to pull anyone off duty.

Everyone's snow gear alike and they had been given it for precautionary reasons and also that it got very cold in the winter. It was all black, so they showed up quite sharply against the snow. The heavy coats, the thick pants, the boots that went up to your knee that you stuffed your pants into, the gloves, and the goggles. Harry's goggle lenses had been tinted green. Everyone had taken to tinting their different colors to make them more individualized. Harry's goggles were enchanted to work like his spectacles, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to see. He pulled up his hood and followed Ron out the door. (Ron went through a variety of different colors but settled on the regular gray that the goggles came as.)

They quickly divided up into their teams and play began. Harry was rather good at getting himself so distance away from the group. He was planning on going around the castle and coming at Fred and George from behind but as he was rounding the corner, he heard weeping.

It was so sad and so lonely sounding that Harry couldn't help but follow the sound. He entered a small grove of pine trees and saw that there was a stone sticking out of the ground in the middle of these trees. And there was Chionia, the Eternal Snow Queen, weeping.

Even so, Harry admitted that she looked rather dignified as she did so, even if it was sad the way her face was buried in her white hands.

"Um…sorry." Harry tried to get her attention and she immediately looked up, her piercing gaze startling him. He lowered his hood, though he wasn't sure why. "I just…heard you crying…"

"I made a promise that I would be back at Mt. Niobe in a few days' time." The tears trails were now quickly fading from Chionia's face. "My nixies are in grave danger…But that man, he doesn't understand…"

"He just wants to send the best with you." Harry tried to cheer her up. "It's not like he refused to help, right?"

"He might as well have!" Chionia barked at him. "Those men will get into my palace and if they do, there's a chance they'll put my nixies in terrible danger…"

"Why did you leave then?" Harry questioned.

"Although I am Eternal as the lands I rule, I have no real way of defending myself or my nixies." Chionia confessed. "The fact that these intruders made it so far, suggests that they have great power. I need to be able to fight them off, but my power…" She looked up and Harry saw a snowflake flutter down to her raised hand. "Well, it is what it is."

"Maybe if you explained—" Harry began again.

"You are a silly little boy." Chionia glared at him. "You would have no idea what it is like to be driven from your home, in the hopes that you can one day return. You have no idea what it is to be defenseless and alone. My only hope is that the nixies stay at Mt. Niobe and do not try anything rash…"

"Maybe I don't know what some of that is like." Harry's mouth set in a firm line and he took a step towards her. "But I do know what it's like to be alone. If it really can't wait…then I'll go with you."

"What?" Chionia looked almost taken aback. For a brief moment, Harry wondered how Chionia's crown managed to stay perfectly perched on her head. "_You_?"

"Harry! Where have you been!" Ron's indignant voice came up behind him. Harry turned to see Ron, furiously pushing up his goggles. "Fred and George are _killing _us and—oh!" He spotted Chionia. He looked from her to Harry. Harry turned back towards her.

"I said, I'll go with you. You need help, right?" Harry insisted. "They don't need me, I don't do anything important for them." Chionia continued to stare right at him. Suddenly, something cold and wet hit the back of his head. He turned to see Hermione.

"Sorry, I'm awfully sorry, I didn't see who you were talking to and Fred and George were making fun of my aim _again_." Hermione apologized. Then she looked at Ron's gaping mouth and then over at Chionia. "What's going on?"

"He's going to help her!" Ron gestured wildly. "He's going to go to the Snowlands with her on a bloody suicide mission!"

"It's not a suicide mission, Ron." Harry replied crossly.

"What part of 'Death Eaters' didn't you understand!" Ron asked him. "You can't go to the Eternal Snowlands! At least, not by yourself!"

"Ron's right, Harry." Hermione agreed calmly, the exact opposite of Ron's reaction. "I know you want to help but…"

"No, I'm going to go." Harry stated firmly. Then once more he turned to Chionia. "Do you want my help?"

"Move those…things." Chionia gestured towards her own eyes and Harry pushed his goggles up so that his messy bangs were lifted out of his eyes as well. The world slid out of focus but he stared straight at Chionia, who seemed to be measuring him. After a moment, she made a movement that was only detectable because of her large crown. "I see you are suitable. But you are but one, and not very old…" Harry slid his goggles back down.

"You're really going to go?" Ron's jaw dropped.

"Yes, stop asking or I'll hex you." Harry threatened.

"Then we're going too." Hermione told Harry immediately.

"_What_!" Ron turned to gape at Hermione. Harry felt a little stunned himself at this pronouncement. "We're what?"

"We can't let Harry go alone!" Hermione insisted. Ron looked a little dazed and seemed to be thinking hard.

"But just the three of us?" Ron muttered uneasily.

"Five of us." Fred declared as he and George emerged from the trees, where they had been eavesdropping on the conversation. "Running off without permission is right up our alley."

"And you think you are all suitable?" Chionia spoke again.

"Yes. Fred and George are older than us." Harry explained. "And they're really good wizards, Ron is really good at strategy, and Hermione's the smartest of all of us." Hermione tried not to look overly pleased with herself.

"And you will lead them." Chionia said in such a way that it didn't really sound like a question.

"Of course Harry is leading us." George agreed happily. "He is a visionary."

"An untapped source of adventure and good times." Fred added on.

"But first, we ought to grab a few things." Hermione spoke up. "We'll need supplies and the like…"

"And this will take time?" Chionia spoke in a very dull tone.

"We'll leave at midnight." Harry decided for them. "Is that alright?" He asked Chionia.

"It is…suitable." Chionia answered. "We will fly across the Northern sea and land at the shores of the Bay of Snow Drops."

"Right." Harry had no idea what she was talking about. "We'll meet here at midnight." Then he turned on the others. "And no one else is to come, alright?"

"Don't worry, we won't tell a soul." George promised.

"Ginny's going to throw a fit when she finds out…." Fred bit his lip. Then he brightened. "But when we're all being punished for leaving the castle, she'll thank us."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because we'll be dead." George replied easily. Ron paled.

"I must warn you that my land is not a safe land, nor is it easy one to cross." Chionia's tone was dead serious. "But you will be greatly rewarded for all your help."

"We'll be back at midnight." Harry said once more and then he walked out of the small grove, the others following him. He heard them start to plan what to bring.

"I've got to take lots of parchment and ink." Hermione was saying to Ron. "The last Granger to go to the Eternal Snowlands was my ancestor, Farold Granger. Think of all the things I'll see! With detailed sketches and accounts of the wildlife and…"

"Yeah, that'll be fascinating, it's all snow." Ron deadpanned and the others laughed.

"Didn't you hear a word she said?" Hermione looked very prim all of a sudden. "Nixies? They certainly aren't snow."

"Alright, cleversticks." Ron frowned at her. "I don't think we'll survive anyways, so you'll probably have to take notes on my will…"

"You have something to will to someone?" Fred inquired interestedly.

"Well…there's Scabbers." Ron pointed out. "I could will him to someone."

"No one's going to die." Harry told the rest of them in an almost stern voice. "Now remember, not a word to anyone…"

* * *

It was midnight, according to the clock in the main hall. Harry was dressed in his snow gear, a broom in one hand, his wand in the other, a large pack on his back. He didn't want to be late and so he left through a side door and went towards the small grove of pine trees. He saw a figure in black ahead of him, who turned, and waited. It was Ron.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Ron told him. "I must be out of my mind."

"I'm still surprised that Hermione wanted to go." Harry admitted. "You know how she is about rules…"

"Yeah, but she's gotten better about it…" Ron defended her.

They reached the small grove and saw that Hermione and Chionia were both there waiting for them. Harry and Ron were both glad to see her. Even though he didn't want to admit it, part of Harry had wondered if Hermione turn them in, but he supposed that just wasn't her.

"Where are Fred and George?" Harry asked.

"We're here." Fred and George announced together. They had large packs on their back as well. "And we brought something to help us."

"What?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Tonks." Fred answered and Tonks came out from behind them, all suited up to go to the Snowlands.

"I thought we weren't supposed to tell anyone." Ron pointed out.

"We thought it was more of a suggestion." George grinned. "Besides, Tonks is cool."

"I'm coming anyways, even if no one likes it." Tonks startled them because she had changed into Chionia while no one was looking. It was kind of hilarious to see a much shorter Chionia in snow goggles but when she saw the look on the real Chionia's face, she quickly changed back.

"Are we ready to depart?" Chionia interrupted the conversation in a steely, no-nonsense tone which quickly made everyone shut up.

"All set." Harry mounted his broom. "How are you going to fly without a broom?"

"I do not require such things." Chionia answered simply.

"Alright then, kick off on the count of three." Harry turned to the others. "One, two, three!" And everyone was up in the air. Hermione wasn't the best flyer in the world, but she did a fair job when she had to. Harry made a mental note to check on her during the flight to make sure she was okay. He was in the lead, the whole night sky opened up before him. He loved flying more than any other feeling in the world. He was just…free.

And then Chionia was in front of him, leading. It was the strangest sight to behold, the way that Chionia flew. She was riding a cloud, a small cloud, that she sat in, like a throne, leading the way to her land. The one thing Harry didn't understand was what dangers could be awaiting in a land of eternal snow.

He was about to find out.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Ah, back to this story…a story I immensely enjoy writing. There's something really fun about writing a sort of adventure story as opposed to what I usually write…angsty romance stuff. I feel like it's a whole new side of writing that I get to explore…although I'm sure some angsty romance stuff will end up popping up in the end—mostly because I have no control over any of the characters. And hey, I'm a little weirded out by the fact that I only got one review for the last chapter…please review, okay guys?

Pobbin: Your review makes me want to change the entire storyline to be about shampoo. As for the Fred and George typo thing…I dunno, I guess I kind of think of the twins as one entity…

Note: Yes, I realize that Chionia is an original character…but…you know, forgive me and stuff? You don't know how long I stressed about the whole idea of an original character, I must have taken that universal Mary Sue test like five times for her and she keeps being in the clear…You guys understand, right? You guys know I wouldn't do it unless I thought I could do it without being a lamehead…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Mild swearing, lots of snow…fun times.

* * *

**The Eternal Snowlands**

**Chapter Three**

* * *

Harry's face was numb and he had given up reaching up to pinch feeling back into his cheeks. The journey over the sea had taken all night and now the first rays of dawn were peaking out from his right. He took the opportunity to glance back at his fellow fliers. They all looked just as weary and cold as he did. 

Ahead of him, Chionia was flying on her cloud-throne, but he couldn't see her face. He didn't imagine the cold was bothering her any. He was at the point of cold that he was seriously considering lighting himself on fire. He'd be warm then.

But he looked past Chionia and saw that there was a great expanse of heavy grey cloud coming up fast. It was so vast that he wondered why he had not noticed it before, but then, at night, it all looked the same, didn't it?

_This must be it…_

They were so close now that they were about to be engulfed by the thick clouds. He heard Chionia call something over her shoulder, but he couldn't quite make out what it was. He wondered what his plan was now. They would touch down and have to do battle with Death Eaters…they'd have to come up with a plan…

He saw that Chionia was beginning to descend and he turned around to shout out to the others that they were landing. He heard a general agreement of something like 'About time…' and knew the others had heard him.

One moment, the sky was pink and purple, and the day looked like it was promising to be a clear blue sky, and the next moment, he was swallowed by the clouds and it was snowing heavily, thunder boomed all around, and lightening flickered.

_Are these storm clouds!_

They'd have to land no matter what, he didn't want to be flying about and get zapped by lightening. Chionia was nowhere to be seen and he figured he might as well just land. The storm was growing more and more furious as he flew on and he had a creeping feeling that it was going to get worse and worse the further he flew in. But how was he supposed to land when he couldn't see where the bloody ground was?

A ball of bright red light suddenly flew past him and he watched it as it went through the thick white falling sheet of snow and landed, about thirty feet below him, temporarily casting a sheen on what could have only been a high crown. He didn't glance back to see what it was, he quickly landed and stood next to it. He saw that it was just a simple light spell, colored to be more easily seen. Chionia was standing there with an impatient frown, which seemed to be the only way she ever looked.

There were small thuds all around him as the others all landed. The second that Tonks, who was the last one to touch down, had her feet firmly planted on the ground, the storm stopped. The snow stopped falling, piercing blue sky reined over head, and suddenly he was surrounded by dazzling white snow, or green snow, as seen through his goggles.

"Did you not hear me?" Chionia turned imperiously on them. "I said to land quickly. As soon as you pass over the Bay of Snow Drops, the Storm begins."

"It was hard to hear." Harry cupped his gloves around his face and blew into them, the warm air momentarily brushing over his face before disappearing just as quickly. "Why did the weather change so fast?"

"That is the nature of the Snowlands." Chionia looked up at the bright blue sky. "No one may fly into the Snowlands, not even birds. A great protection against those who would try to fly brooms to my palace."

"We have to walk to your palace?" Ron asked with a groan.

"Is it close?" Tonks inquired hopefully.

"It is located in the heart of the Snowlands." Chionia answered. "We are far from it, we are on the shore of the Bay of Snowdrops."

"Can't you…you know…" Ron tried to articulate his question with hand gestures that were failing. "Just…turn it off? So we can fly there?"

"Turn it…off?" Chionia's expression suggested that not only was that the most foolish thing that someone had ever asked her, but also that it was completely impossible. "No, I cannot."

"But you're the queen." Fred pointed out. "Isn't that something you can deal with?"

"You are mistaken. I am queen, I rule over this land, but I do not control this land, I was born of it." Chionia's pointed features looked even more so as she explained this.

"Oh!" Hermione cried out in wonder. "Look!"

"At what?" Ron looked at her. "The snow?"

"No!" Hermione grabbed his shoulder irritably and turned him around so that he was facing the way that she was. Ron gasped and the others immediately turned to see what it was.

They were about forty feet from the shore and they could see the water lapping up against it, except that it wasn't water, it was flowers…thousands and thousands of tiny white flowers that spread out as far as the eye could see. They sparkled and rippled as the water moved, making the sun shine on different points.

"The Bay of Snow Drops…" Harry remembered its title. He and the others had no idea that it was going to be a _literal _title.

"It's so beautiful…" Hermione breathed. "But how is it possible for them to grow in the water like that?"

"That is just the way things are." Chionia was looking out onto the bay as well, looking extremely proud. "Now, we must go, we cannot afford to waste time right now. After everything has been put right, I would be more than happy to show you all the wonders that my land has to offer."

"She's right." Harry tore his eyes away from all those flowers. "We have to get going." It was strange how awake he suddenly felt, maybe it was the idea that they were setting out on an adventure, or something, but he suddenly felt extremely alert.

"I'm freezing." Ron complained, clapping his gloved hands together and rubbing them together. "I know it's supposed to be cold but cripes!"

"Wait!" Hermione put down her pack, rummaging through it quickly.

"Did she bring a book on how to stay warm?" Fred stage whispered to George.

"If she did, I say we start a fire with it." George sniggered.

"Oh, shut up." Hermione snapped at them as she finally pulled out what she had been looking for. A Pin Wheel. They all just stared at her. She rolled her eyes and tapped it with her wand. "_Afflo calefacio_." Then she blew on it. Harry knew it was only giving off warm air now.

"That's great Hermione." Tonks clapped her on the back. "Except that you only have one." Hermione continued to beam as she tapped her Pin Wheel once more.

"_Acervo pentas_." Hermione murmured and suddenly she was holding six Pin Wheels, the one she originally had, and the five that she had made. When each person had one, and everyone was feeling much warmer because of them, Chionia spoke again.

"There are two ways to get to my palace. One way is very safe—"

"I choose that way." Ron voted. Chionia's eyes narrowed and he quickly looked down at his feet.

"As I was saying," Chionia began again, "One way is safe, but it takes much, much longer. The other way is much quicker but is very dangerous. The safe way is also not much good after we go around the Impregnable Mountains—" Tonks smothered a snicker and earned herself a dirty look from the Snow Queen. "For they will be able to see us coming a long way off. The quicker way," It was clear by then which way Chionia wanted to go. "Means we will have the element of surprise."

Harry was about to ask what the others thought of this but saw that they had all turned to look expectantly at him. But why? They had said he was leader, but he had supposed they just meant it in an offhand way. Why would they let him be leader anyways? Fred, George, and Tonks, were all older then him.

He decided he couldn't make this decision alone.

"Let's vote." Harry suggested. The others nodded and there was a general murmur of assent. "Who votes we go the safe way?" Hermione and Ron both put up their hands.

"Sorry, it's just that slow and steady still wins the race…" Hermione blushed. "Besides, maybe we can figure out a way to camouflage ourselves…" Ron didn't seem to have the same reasons but stayed silent.

"And all those in favor of going the quicker way, even though it's more dangerous?" Harry asked, raising his hand, as well as Tonks, Fred, and George. The twins said something about how it wouldn't be any fun without some risk involved. "Alright, we're going the quicker way." Chionia seemed pleased. "Now, everyone attached their broomsticks to their packs? Okay, good, let's set out then."

Harry wondered how Chionia would move very fast with those heavy looking skirts, but he didn't ask questions. Just as they were starting to walk through the snow, Hermione leaned over to whisper to him.

"I knew I was going to be out voted…but I didn't want Ron to feel like he was the only one who wanted to go the safe way. I did want to go, because it seems a bit more sensible, but I'm betting the quicker we get this done, the sooner we'll be back home…" Hermione looked worried and he knew that part of her wondered what would happen when they got back, mostly because he was thinking about it underneath it all as well. They wouldn't…send them away, would they? It was okay for Tonks and the Weasleys, they at least had family on the outside, but Harry never wanted to see the Dursleys again.

"I'm never going to complain about the heat again." Harry vowed as they continued to tramp through the snow. It crunched underneath his feet as he went along and no one said anything for a very long time.

He looked out before him and saw that the land seemed to be rising uphill and that he could make out something in the distance that looked like mountains, which was promising. The Pin Wheel was keeping him warm enough, even though it seemed like the cold had settled into his bones and he would have loved to somehow take a hot bath, but he just kept on going.

Fred and George decided to begin amusing the others by one of them periodically saying, "It sure is white." And the other one saying, "Really? I hadn't noticed." It would vary each time, but at least it was something to do.

Then Tonks stopped suddenly. "Did you see that?" Tonks pointed to their left and Harry turned, but couldn't see anything. This area was had little mounds everywhere, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, but he supposed an entire bay full of flowers didn't either.

"What?" Fred looked around.

"There!" Tonks pointed a little ways away.

"No!" Hermione gasped in disbelief.

"It couldn't be." Tonks shook her head.

"What?" Ron was looking in all directions, a completely bewildered expression on his face. Then something popped up from behind a small mound about ten feet away. It looked around nervously, its nose twitched, and then it disappeared from view again.

"Snow bunnies." Hermione put a hand to her head. "I didn't think they were _real_…"

"They're quite common, but only in places where there is always snow." Chionia explained to them. "I am surprised that you have never seen them before."

"If only Luna was here…" Harry trailed off, grinning a little. Another one popped up, looking every bit like a regular rabbit, except that it had an almost round face and its large floppy ears looked an awful lot like Luna's.

Chionia cleared her throat quite pointedly and they began walking again, although Hermione was wondering if there was some way to take one home so she could study it.

"Though I suppose I couldn't…" Hermione lamented. "Crookshanks might not understand and it's not always snowing…it'd be mean to take it out of its natural environment."

"At least now we know that Lovegood isn't completely off her rocker…" Ron pointed out, trying to cheer Hermione up.

* * *

Luna sneezed. Ginny looked up at her and the absent minded girl gave a small shrug in response. All of the kids were sitting in the common room. Everyone but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Tonks that is. Hermione had been the only one who left a note to explain where they were going, but she wasn't the only one who left a note. Fred and George had left one that swore to Ginny they would make it up to her one day. 

Hell hath no fury like Ginny Weasley scorned.

"How could they just run off without me!" Ginny asked for the thousandth time today. "I thought Fred and George _at least_—"

"Maybe they thought it'd be too dangerous." Cho tried.

"For _me_!" Ginny was clearly far from forgiving them.

"Why don't you peasant children do me a favor and shut up?" Draco yawned lazily from across the room.

"Don't even start with me Malfoy because I'll slap you six ways to next week." Ginny threatened.

"Zabini, do something now because if I have to endure your girlfriend's moaning for another second—" Draco was predictably cut off by simultaneous cries of, "Shut up Malfoy!" "I'm not his girlfriend!" and "She's not his girlfriend!" He sighed heavily in reply.

"I wish I could have gone with them." Ginny glared at the other side of the room, where Draco, Nott, and Blaise were all sitting.

"Me too." Neville agreed solemnly. Cho, Ginny, and Luna all stared at him. His ears went red. "They get to miss Potions. Now I don't even have Hermione to help me…"

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Ginny patted his arm comfortingly while Zabini began to make faces and sputter on the other side of the room.

"Perhaps I can help too." Luna volunteered dreamily. This caused everyone's eyes to flicker upwards, towards her floppy white bunny ears that she still hadn't gotten rid of. Strangely, most of them were finding it harder and harder to remember what Luna looked like _without _them. Then everyone glanced at Cho, who just sat there, blinking before she seemed to realize why they were staring.

"Oh, uh, I'll help too." Cho nodded quickly. "I'm pretty good at Potions."

"She's also good at setting herself on fire." Draco volunteered.

"I'm going to set _you _on fire." Ginny muttered darkly.

"I can't hear it when poor people talk." Draco waved a dismissive hand at her.

"Oh, I can't stand this anymore." Ginny stood up and walked out of the common room, down the hallway to all the rooms. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see that Luna and Neville had followed her. She turned on them. "You know what we should do? We should sneak off like the others did and go after them. Everyone's busy running around right now."

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Neville murmured, turning quite pale.

"Why not?" Ginny noticed that Luna suddenly looked extremely vague and was humming to herself. The youngest Weasley turned around very, very slowly.

McGonagall had never looked scarier.

"None of you will be running off." McGonagall shook a forbidding finger at them. "The situation is being taken care of and in the mean time, you will all remain at this castle or I will lock you in your rooms _myself_."

"You need people to go after them, don't you?" Ginny pointed out. "I could help!"

"Believe it or not, Miss Weasley, but this situation requires a tad bit more experience than a fourteen year old witch could possibly possess." McGonagall's tone left no room for argument.

"But they got to go…" Ginny argued stubbornly.

"They left without permission." McGonagall crossed her arms. "And they will be punished when they're brought back. Make no mistake, going to the Eternal Snowlands is far from being an adventure—it's dangerous in ways they couldn't possibly imagine." And then she swept off down the hallway. Ginny gave her instructor a dirty look but it was really only half-hearted and she felt it was a lame form of retaliation.

"See, McGonagall says it's dangerous." Neville looked relieved to see that he had backing.

"Well, they better die while they're up there because when Fred and George get back, I'm going to kill them." Ginny vowed and then went into her room, slamming the door behind her. Neville glanced over at Luna, who was looking a lot less vague now that McGonagall wasn't there.

"Let's find a zagam for Ginerva." Luna nodded to herself.

"What's a zagam?" Neville inquired curiously, albeit apprehensively.

"It's a kind of demon that can change copper into gold and lead into silver." Luna answered and Neville looked relieved, although the word 'demon' was slightly alarming. "It feeds primarily on human blood." Then she seemed to wander off down the hall.

"Please say those don't really exist." Neville pleaded with the now empty hall. "They're like snow bunnies, right?" Then he decided to stop talking to himself or else Malfoy might catch him and do something horrible to him. Ginny Weasley was still there to stand up for him, but he was pretty much a moving target without Hermione, Ron, and Harry looking after him.

_I wish I could be more like them…_

_I hope they come back alright…_

* * *

"I think we should set up camp here." Harry decided. They had found a small clearing right before the land began to go steeply upwards as far as he could see in both directions and he knew that climbing that huge hill would be a task better left for a group that had gotten some sleep. 

"Good idea." Hermione nodded. "We can get some rest and tackle that hill tomorrow."

"I do not require the rest that you do." Chionia looked as though this was a luxury she was granting them. "I will watch over the camp while you sleep."

"I didn't even think about having someone of guard duty…" Harry admitted. "But thanks Chionia, good idea." Chionia blinked in such a way that Harry knew he shouldn't have been so casual in address.

"Yeah, great idea Your Frostiness." Fred saluted. Chionia looked down her nose at him and then turned, walking a few feet away.

"We'll help set up the tent, Hermione." Tonks pointed to her and Ron. Hermione was unpacking what looked like a small tent that would barely fit three people, let alone six people. While they were working, Tonks turned into Ron.

"Where'd ya get this tent, Hermione?" Tonks as Ron asked, scratching the back of her head. If it wasn't for the fact that even though Ron was younger, he was a few inches taller than Tonks, she could have passed for the real thing.

"Tonks, I really wish you wouldn't do that." Hermione shook her head. "It's kind of strange…I think I'm talking to Ron but I'm not…"

"Maybe if Tonks followed her around everywhere and always did things for her while Hermione remained oblivious, she'd never be able to tell the difference." George whispered to Fred, who sniggered. Ron, who was a couple of feet from them, enchanting the tent pegs to remain firmly in the snow, turned red and pretended not to hear.

"So, is there anything we should know for tomorrow?" Harry asked Chionia, who was sitting on a convenient mound of snow that most of them couldn't remember being there a few moments ago. "Once we get to the top of this hill, I mean."

"This hill will be impossible to go around." Chionia explained. "It shows the end of the outer perimeter."

"Well, that's good." Harry nodded to himself. Maybe they'd get this done faster than he thought.

"It's far more dangerous from here on then you can imagine." Chionia's deadpan voice made his heart sink. "If we walked to where the Impregnable Mountains cross the perimeter, it would be easier but it would take about three days to reach it."

"We can go this way." Harry decided. "After all, everyone voted for the quicker way and I'm sure that we can handle it. Plus, it's safer with you being there right? Since you're the Queen and all."

"The nixies obey all my orders, but there are many creatures I do not control." Chionia's voice was just as cold as the landscape around them.

"Come on Harry, the tent's ready!" Hermione called him back over to where the others were all filing into the small tent. "It'll be a lot warmer in here."

"Great, I'm coming." Harry gave a half turn and looked at Chionia. "You'll be alright out here then?"

"I'll raise the alarm if there is any need for it." Chionia was almost absent mindedly fingering one of her strands of pearls. "Rest for now."

"'Night!" Harry called over his shoulder and went into the tent after Hermione. The tent on the outside might have looked small but on the inside it was like a small house. There was a kitchen area, a living room, and one set of bunk beds.

"What are the sleeping arrangements going to be?" Hermione and the others were all stripping off their snow gear, as Hermione had already made a portable fire for the tent, so the whole place was warm.

"The two girls in the beds, the rest of us on the floor." Fred answered easily.

"Yeah, there's plenty of blankets in here, right?" George opened a drawer of the dresser next to the bed to see that it was full of blankets.

"We'll rotate every night." Tonks had already gotten out of her things and was filling a tea kettle to put on the stove. "That way everyone gets a turn."

"No, we're fine on the floor." Harry shook his head. "You and Hermione should take the bunks."

"Yeah, you're the girls." Ron reminded them in a voice that suggested they might have somehow forgotten.

"That's stupid." Hermione looked crossly at the red-haired boy. "We'll take turns." It was clear that Hermione and Tonks weren't going to budge on this issue.

"Fine, you guys take them tonight, Ron and I will take them tomorrow, and Fred and George can take them the night after that." Harry sank down on one of the armchairs. He didn't realize how absolutely exhausted he was until that very moment. "Let's have some dinner and then get off to bed."

"I'm starving." Ron went to go see what he could do in the kitchen. Before long, everyone had some tea, a piece of bread, some cold meat, and some cheese. Afterwards, there was nothing to do but to go to bed. The boys each found comfortable places on the floor and Tonks and Hermione were snuggled into the beds.

Harry could barely remember laying down on the floor, the next thing he knew, he was asleep.

Outside, the Eternal Snow Queen sat, watching over the camp with unwavering eyes. A light snow began to fall, adding to the already white landscape. Tomorrow, the journey would become much harder.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

Ah yes, the triumphant next part! Dun, dun, dun! So…right now, I have a Luna Lovegood wallpaper on my computer. That's how good I am at writing, I end up loving certain characters because I just write them so well! (Modesty is my saving grace.) Somebody should draw her with her bunny ears, I think that would be hilarious. It was kind of a random idea, but I thought it was neat. But this chapter is going to be cool. It should be anyways, if it's not, just blame it on me. But I wrote part of this chapter when I was getting a vague idea of what would happen in this story.

Pobbin: Or will I pair her with one of them? No, good god no. Also, sorry about creeping you out, but see, I was at work and it was kind of slow and I was goofing around and I went to see what fanfics you had written and discovered it. It was good—**everybody **go read **Brothers** by Pobbin.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP.

Warnings: Snow, mild swearing, and some _artemisia absinthium._

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The Eternal Snowlands

Chapter Four

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Harry woke up feeling rather stiff. Even though he was under warm blankets, part of him still felt chilled. He poked his head up and looked around the tent. The other boys were all still asleep. Ron was sprawled out a few feet away, his hands and feet sticking out from under his blankets. Hermione and Tonks were sleeping in the bunk beds across the room from them.

Fred and George were curled up next to each other in such a way that Harry thought it probably wasn't a good idea to stare. It was daylight outside, he could tell and so he got up.

"Come on you guys!" Harry exclaimed loudly, hoping to wake them all up. "It's time to start getting up.

A pillow hit him in the face.

"Oh, thanks." Harry glared at the sleeping boys, unable to tell who threw it. Fred and George didn't look as though they had moved, but then, neither did Ron. "I'm serious. We need to get up."

"Whaa…?" Hermione had one eye opened, her hair was sticking up at all sorts of different angles. "Oh, is it time to get up?" She shook herself and climbed out of bed, wincing when her warm feet touched the cold floor. "I'll put some tea on."

"Tea?" Tonks poked her head out from under her covers.

"I want tea." Fred didn't even bother opening his eyes to make the request.

"Ron still won't wake up." Harry nudged the tall red-haired boy who might have been dead for all the reaction he gave to this.

"Maybe I'll pour a cup of tea on him—that'd wake him up." Hermione said slyly as she went about her work.

"I'm awake!" Ron jumped up quickly, looking scared. "No need to pour tea on me…"

After that, everyone got dressed and ready to go out into the snowy landscape, ate some breakfast and had a cup of hot tea. When they emerged from the tent, Harry saw a world of emerald green before him through his goggles. The snow was obviously a dazzling white and this made him push his goggles up to see it for a moment. The clear blue sky glared down from above and the snow was so white it looked blue. Chionia immediately noticed them.

"Are you done resting for now?" Chionia looked as imperious as ever and showed no signs of having spent all night outside in the snow. Harry thought about what she said about not needing rest.

"Yes." Harry nodded his head. "We've just got to pack up camp and we can get moving."

"We will be leaving the outer perimeter today." Chionia reminded them. "Over this hill…the worst things you have faced so far are snow bunnies…you must listen to me closely and heed my warnings as we travel on. There are things that can kill you with a single touch."

"Like what?" Hermione asked curiously.

"The Shivering Boy." Chionia's voice dropped a little as she said this. "And then there's…well, there's always a chance…"

"A chance of what?" Harry didn't like this whole vague alluding thing to the danger ahead.

"Nothing, let's go on." Chionia shook her head and her high crown only emphasized the movement.

Harry frowned a little and saw the wary faces of his fellow travelers but as the camp was already packed away, it was time to go on. It was a tough climb, the hill was far steeper than it had originally looked. The progress was also slowed by them slipping down. Chionia waited impatiently for them, even in her white gown and slippers, she had no problem at all treading up the side of this large hill.

Ron was just pulling Hermione up so she could be at the top of the hill when Fred and George gasped simultaneously. Everyone turned around to look down into a valley that spread out before them.

They were amazed to see a great expanse of yellow-green in front of them; it was a valley full of color, where the rest of the land was a dead white. Chionia's blue eyes looked out onto it with a disdainful air.

"This is a dangerous land. We would do better to pass around it." Chionia's tones were ominous but the others didn't seem to understand what the danger could be.

"What's scary about this?" Ron cocked his head to one side. "What's gonna hurt you? Isn't this your land?"

"It is not dangerous for me." Chionia's eyes swung towards Ron and Ron suddenly had a horrible sinking feeling.

"But that'll take days!" Harry protested. "You said yourself that this is the shortest way."

"Indeed." Chionia's high crown bobbed a little as she moved her head. "We shall go this way. There is a chance that since I am with you, you will be fine. Do not stray from the group and at all costs, keep your eyes on the person in front of you and don't listen to the singing. I will go first, they will not distract me. You," She pointed a long white finger at Hermione. "You will be the end of the line."

"Alright." Hermione looked taken aback but got in line with everyone else, right behind Ron.

"Forward." Chionia began to walk in front of them and Harry, who was right behind her, kept his eyes locked on her back. What was going on? Why were all these plants here? And what were they?

"I know this!" Hermione suddenly knelt down, causing everyone to turn as she picked a yellow-green leaf from one of the plants. "It's _artemisia absinthium_."

"It's…what?" Tonks asked slowly, speaking for everyone else in the group except perhaps Chionia.

"Wormwood." Hermione pronounced its common name. "The kind that's put into absinthe—it's a kind of—"

"Alcohol, we're not stupid." George rolled his eyes. "Why is nothing but wormwood growing here?"

"Well, maybe someone set up some kind of absinthe making thingie and they planted a bunch of it so they wouldn't run out." Ron offered.

"Someone planted wormwood in the Eternal Snowlands?" Hermione looked at him pointedly.

"It's not that." Chionia seemed to be listening for something. "If we hurry we can walk through this valley without them noticing."

"Without who noticing?" Harry didn't like the idea of being surrounded by poison.

Suddenly, breaking through the air, the sound of a beautiful singing voice started up and several more joined it.

"Cover your ears!" Chionia ordered at once. "You boys, cover your ears!" But it was too late. Hermione and Tonks could only watch in bewilderment as looks of sleepy happiness began to wash over the boys' faces. They looked like they were in a trance and they started to turn and walk in a different direction. "Stop them!"

"_Petrificus totalus_!" Hermione shot off the curse at Ron, who fell forward, stiff as a board. Tonks quickly hexed the twins while Hermione also got Harry. The bushy-haired girl frowned at Chionia. "What's going on?" The snow queen sighed.

"I was hoping we wouldn't run into them…" Chionia trailed off and looked into the distance. Hermione and Tonks followed her gaze and were startled to see that there were figures walking towards them. They couldn't quite make them out but it was obvious that they were the singers. "We are in the Valley of the Veela."

"Okay, what are veela?" Tonks didn't think the singing was so bad, she didn't see the danger in it. But obviously Chionia had her reasons and the boys weren't wandering off.

"I think I've read something about them…the name sounds awfully familiar for some reason…" Hermione rubbed her chin with a gloved finger. "Aren't they women?"

"They look like human women, although they are not." Chionia explained, glancing at the figures who were coming closer and closer. "Veela are extremely dangerous and use their charms to trap men so that they can devour them."

"What!" Hermione grabbed hold of Ron's arm. "We've got to get out of here then!"

"I will deal with them." Chionia drew herself up. "They don't like to admit it but I am the ruler in this land. Don't say anything to them, if you do, make it nothing but compliments. Veela are as vain as anything."

"Should we um, un-hex the boys?" Tonks asked tentatively.

"As soon as the singing stops." Chionia nodded and just as she said that, the veela did cease singing. Hermione and Tonks went about muttering the counter curse before looking to see the veela for the first time.

Everyone of them looked like tall, extremely beautiful women. They had long silvery-blue hair or golden-blonde hair. Their skin practically glowed and they were perfect from head to toe—dressed in long silk dressed that while covering them, were still extremely revealing. Hermione theorized that the cold didn't affect them as much as it did humans.

"What the hell…?" Ron and the other boys looked around a little groggily. "Who are they!" Ron's mouth dropped open when his eyes focused on the veela.

"None of them are very good looking." One of the veela women pouted prettily as she surveyed them. "Although the twins are exciting in their own way…"

"They have freckles." Another one sniffed almost sadly.

"Men who wander into this valley are ours." A veela told Chionia, taking note of her. "Leave them be. We'll take care of them…"

"I won't let you eat them!" Hermione stepped up.

"Yeah, get your breakfast elsewhere." Tonks crossed her arms.

"Oh." The veela who spoke to Chionia turned towards the other veela. "These…_girls _want to claim them over us. We are much prettier than they…"

"What's going on?" Harry finally broke in.

"These are veela." Hermione shot the veela women a dirty look and they giggled in response. "They want to eat you and the other boys."

"Sometimes we don't eat them." One veela shrugged gracefully. "The half-veela don't. They think it is…cannibalism." The other veela grinned as though an inside joke had just been traded. "None of you are as pretty as we, so we own your men."

"I don't fancy ending up on someone's plate." Fred whispered to Tonks.

"I'm as pretty." Tonks declared, stepping forward. The veela surveyed her disdainfully.

"Her face shape is alright but her hair is like a boy's…" One veela sniffed. "Pretty eyes as well."

"Your confidence is very quaint but I'm afraid…" The veela who seemed to be in charge spoke again. Tonks screwed her eyes shut and the next moment, the veela talking was staring at her inches shorter double. "How in the world!" The other veela murmured in approval at this display.

"Indeed, now she is extremely beautiful." One veela spoke loudly.

"She looks just like you, Ariel!" Another exclaimed and walked over to Tonks, to feel her hair and pinch her cheeks. Tonks tried her best not to flinch when several more came up to do the same.

"Yes, although she is not as tall." The veela named Ariel waved an accepting hand. "You want these men?"

"Yeah." Tonks nodded.

"If only I was a Metamorphmagus…" Ron looked mournfully over at Tonks. Hermione glared at him but he didn't see her.

"There is no argument." Chionia looked disapprovingly at the veela women. "These are my companions and as such, you will not touch them."

"Yes, yes, but the pretty one wants to keep them." Ariel barely seemed to note Chionia's presence. "So, you can change your appearance at will?"

"That's right." Tonks yawned.

"Oooh, you must come to our village!" One of the veela pulled on Tonks arm. "I wish to see more of this!"

"A veela village!" Hermione exclaimed. "Oh, the things I could learn…"

"Shouldn't we keep on going?" Harry was glad he wasn't going to be eaten by veela and thought that they shouldn't try their luck by sticking around longer.

"We have to go right by the village…" Chionia trailed off. "We would be going in the right direction and the veela are in a good mood now…it's best to humor them. They are like children; they will not listen to anyone, not even me."

"They're so…so…_vain_!" Hermione murmured crossly as they started to follow Tonks who was being led away by the veela. "They were going to eat you guys if Tonks hadn't had the presence of mind to turn into one of them! It's so shallow."

"Tonks saved our lives by becoming really pretty. But what if that isn't enough when we get the village?" Ron looked thoughtful and Hermione seemed glad to have someone agree with her. "Hermione, do you know any spells to make yourself prettier?"

A moment later, Ron was lying on his back in the snow. A huffy looking Hermione stomped forward to walk up with Chionia.

"What did I say?" Ron let Harry help him up out of the snow.

"I think this is a little dangerous." Harry walked with the other boys. "But Chionia seems to be okay with it and I guess we have to trust her." The others nodded in agreement.

The village took a couple of hours to get to but when they got there they were amazed to see beautiful little cottages everywhere. There were girls _everywhere_. Harry saw one or two boys, who looked like they were also veela but not nearly anywhere near the number of girls.

"Veela boys are extremely rare." Chionia explained to them over her shoulder, her head held high. Hermione, whether she realized it or not, was walking much the same way. "There are pure veela but many are half."

"Anything less than half is not even worth mentioning." Ariel added onto this commentary. "Half veela is bad enough…"

Another thing that they noticed right away was the mirrors. They were everywhere. Outside of houses, on doors, and most of the veela seemed to have hand mirrors. There was an awful lot of preening going on.

"We've found an entire village of Zabini." Fred joked.

"Now that you mention it…" Hermione trailed off, looking at the veela women. "Zabini _does _kind of look like them."

"Let's never tell him about this." George put in hastily.

"You must come to my house!" Ariel was practically dragging Tonks to one of the cottages.

"We do not have time…" Chionia began but noticed almost no one was paying attention to her. "We can only stay a short time, and then we must be on our way."

They all filed into the house, which was cozy and was decorated in an extremely girly style. Harry noticed Ron wrinkling his nose and smothered a snicker.

"Fleur!" Ariel stamped her foot.

"I'm coming." A girl appeared in the front hall, about the same age as them. She had the silvery blonde hair and sparkling eyes that the other veela had but she was slightly less imposing, although no one could put their finger on why.

"Fleur is my half sister." Ariel explained right away. "She's…a halfling."

"You're half human?" Harry looked at Fleur curiously.

"Yes." Fleur looked slightly downcast for a moment. Then she brightened. "What brings you to the village? Are you here to breed with the veela women?"

"We're on our way to the palace." Harry explained, noticing Ron's slightly downcast look. "Didn't you know about the trouble there?"

"No." Ariel and Fleur said together.

"They wouldn't." Chionia's expression didn't soften at all.

"Look at this one here." Ariel pointed to Tonks who still looked exactly like her. "She can change her appearance! See how she's become as pretty as me?"

"Can you?" Fleur cocked her head to one side and a moment later, Tonks had transformed to look just like her, with a similar expression on her face. "You look just like me…"

"Now you are not as pretty as me." Ariel looked sad. "But when you look like a halfling, how can you expect to compete with a full blooded veela?" Fleur's expression didn't waver at all but Hermione thought that was an awful thing to say to one's own sister.

"You seem young to be helping the Snow Queen." Fleur changed the subject. "Are you great adventurers?"

"Nah, wizards." Ron flourished his wand.

"Wizards? Then…can you use magic?" Fleur looked a bit excited.

"Yes." Hermione nodded. "Although females are called witches."

"When I was born—" Fleur began and was cut off by Ariel.

"Fleur, you may not ever be a real veela but you could at least hold more pride towards your heritage." Ariel tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"I am trying to tell a story, Ariel." Fleur frowned at her sister and turned towards Harry and the others. "Full blooded veela can never stop talking." Ariel's nostrils flared and her mouth tightened. "As I was saying, when I was born, a wand appeared. My mother said that humans could use magic. Veela have their own type of magic but the less veela you are, the less it works."

"A witch veela?" Hermione leaned in, invading Fleur's personal space a little. "That's really fascinating, I didn't know anyone but humans could use our particular brand of magic. I think I remember Firenze saying something…" Hermione looked lost in thought.

"Come in and have tea with us." Ariel gestured towards a small living room.

"Oh…" Harry looked over at Chionia's disapproving face. "We really should be on our way. Thanks a lot though, maybe next time."

"I'm afraid I didn't catch your name…" Fleur held out a small, princess-like hand.

"Harry Potter." Harry shook her hand which obviously surprised Fleur. Ariel giggled into her hand. "You know…if you're a witch, you should learn how to use magic. In Annwn, in the Northern Mountains, there's a castle called Hogwarts. If you go there, they'll teach you magic. It's where all of us are staying."

"Really? Me?" Fleur's eyes sparkled. "Thank you very much, Harry Potter. I will remember your invitation."

After a few good-byes, the group tromped back out into the village and began walking past all the veela once more.

"Oh, Harry, why did you invite her?" Hermione's mouth twisted unsurely. "Ron will never learn magic if he's too busy drooling!"

"Concerned for our dear younger brother's education, eh, Hermione?" George sidled up to her with a sly grin. "How noble…"

"Yes, how absolutely selfless…I'm sure it has nothing to do with Hermione being _jealous _of Fleur…" Fred shot at Hermione who went pink but looked extremely dignified and didn't say anything else.

"It will take at least four days, maybe five to reach the pass through the Impregnable Mountains." Chionia told them as they walked away from the quaint veela village. "And then we must first travel to Mt. Niobe, to visit the nixies before going on to the palace."

"Four or five days?" Ron grumbled.

"Come on, it won't be so bad." Harry gave him an encouraging smile. "At least we weren't eaten by veela."

"I don't think Ron would have minded." Fred snickered.

"What are nixies like?" George wondered out loud.

"They're ice fairies…they make ponds perfect for ice-skating…" Everyone jumped when a taller Luna Lovegood made the vague comment.

"Cute, Tonks." Fred hit the fake Luna on the back. Tonks changed right back to her regular self.

Chionia turned her face from the joking teenagers and her brow furrowed. Should she tell them? About…?

_I hope that the men who've driven me from my palace don't find it…if it's let loose…_

_The Wendigo…_

----------------------

To Be Continued

----------------------

Ooooooooh, foreshadowing fun! So, this might sound strange, but I wrote out a small snippet of this chapter when I was first planning this story…it seems like ages ago. (It was like February…) The part right when they first see the valley covered in wormwood…not the most important part of the whole story, but I liked the imagery right there. I swear to everything there's a mythological connection to veela on that whole wormwood thing. I'll explain all the mythology references at the very end of this story. Of course, you know Fleur had to make a cameo, I love her character so much! I thought she was kind of neat in the fourth book but she wowed me over in the sixth book…oh well, please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Yeah for Snowlands! So, if anyone hasn't seen The Chronicles of Narnia movie, GO SEE IT! Besides, what novel do you think Jade read when she was young (and about a hundred times since) that helped inspired her for this story?

Teresa: Okay, I didn't get to finish when you asked about Jadis being the same as Chionia. Basically, Chionia is kind of a caricature of Jadis—and also, way nicer. But where else would I get the inspiration for a Snow Queen? (I think I did mention that she was also somewhat based off the princess in the Candyland board game…you know…)

Pobbin: Yeah…bad typo. Nothing compared to the hilarious wrong name mix-up in this one chapter of Walls That Lie Between, where I put 'Kouga' instead of 'Ayame' so the sentence looked as though Ginta had a very big crush on the wrong person…I fixed that one though. And this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Some swearing.

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The Eternal Snowlands

Chapter Five

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"That was horrible!" Neville moaned, burying his face in his hands. They had just finished another Potions lesson and Neville's potion had gone seriously wrong. At one point, it was bubbling in such a bizarre way that a bubble rose up and splattered Luna Lovegood. Although no one knew exactly how it had happened, Luna's rabbit ears were gone by the time they wiped the potion off her.

"I miss them too." Luna reached up to touch the top of her head, looking severely disappointed.

"Oh, where are they!" Ginny suddenly burst out. She still hadn't forgiven Fred and George for leaving her there—and she definitely didn't forgive the fact that they had gone without her. She had calmed down after a couple of days and was now prone to small outbursts about it.

"My ears?" Luna blinked.

"No, not your ears, Luna." Ginny sighed. "My brothers. Harry. Hermione. Tonks. Nothing interesting is happening _here_!"

"I wouldn't be so quick to say that." Luna looked around slowly and then she leaned in as though she had a secret to tell. "I think there's acromantulas in the dungeons."

"There _are_?" Neville turned an ashen color.

"Don't worry, there's no acromantulas in the dungeons." Ginny reassured him distractedly. "I just wish there was something I could _do_."

_I could have gone with them! _

"I know something you could do." Neville looked nervous.

"What?" Ginny seemed interested.

"Protect me from Malfoy!" Neville latched onto her arm. "Ever since Harry left, it's been terrible…And he keeps saying he's going to do awful things to Trevor."

Ginny giggled at that. "Sorry, Neville, it's just when you say that it sounds like Malfoy's going to force him into marriage or something. Where's Trevor now?"

"In a cage." Neville looked downcast. "He hates being in there but if I let him out, Malfoy's going to get him…"

"You could get a chimera from the dungeons." Luna suggested thoughtfully.

"I thought you just said that there were acromantulas in the dungeons." Ginny's brow crinkled in confusion. Luna didn't say anything for a minute and then shrugged.

"It doesn't help that Zabini shares a room with me." Neville continued in a hopeless tone.

"Look, no one's going to hurt Trevor and no one's going to bully you." Ginny decided to take matters into her own hand. It would distract her from certain _traitors_ who had left without her. "First of all, Malfoy only picks on you because he thinks he can get away with it. You've got to stand up to him. And second, you've got me. And Luna. And the others but they aren't here."

"I'll try…" Neville didn't look like he had complete confidence in this plan.

"I'll go to the library and look up some charms that will seal Trevor's cage. That way Zabini can't just nip him out of there for Malfoy." Ginny decided. "And if you run into Malfoy, you just tell him to mind his own business."

"Yes, and I will tell him to take his inferiority complex towards Harry elsewhere." Luna volunteered.

"Oh…okay." Ginny nodded slowly. Sometimes she really just didn't _get_ Luna. "I'll see you guys in a bit." And she began to walk off on her own. Unbeknownst to her, as she turned down a hallway to go to the library, Malfoy, Nott, and Zabini were coming up the other way, Blaise was the only one who noticed her heading off towards the library.

"Um, I'm going to go check something in the library." Blaise told them and Draco raised both eyebrows at him.

"There aren't any mirrors in the library." Draco seemed slightly suspicious.

"I don't care what he does, he's annoying." Nott announced.

"I'm still right here." Blaise didn't look amused but he turned to walk off. He peeked over his shoulder to make sure the other two were on their way and then he pulled out his mirror. All of his hair was in place and he gave the mirror a winning smile, the type his mother would have given to a crowd full of admirers.

Then he jogged to catch up with Ginny.

It was near impossible to talk to her when her brothers were around and he didn't even try. But now that no one was in the way, he thought he had a fair shot at talking to her.

"Hello." He greeted her. She glanced over at him and her eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked.

"Oh…nothing." Blaise laughed nervously. "I was just…seeing what you were doing."

"Nothing." Ginny answered quickly. "At least, it's none of your business."

"It's a secret then?" Blaise wished he didn't sound quite so curious. He had to play it cool. "That's okay…I'm sure I don't want to know." Ginny stopped and turned towards him.

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere being a bullying git?" Ginny leaned in, trying to draw on all her height, even though the older Zabini was a lot taller than her.

"Er…all bullied out for today." Blaise tried to joke. "I was just thinking that maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Ginny's tone wasn't making it any easier on Blaise who already had a hard time trying to talk to her.

"I heard you're good at mending clothes." Blaise quickly made up. "I've got this pair of trousers that has a rip in it and I was hoping you could…you know, fix it."

_Wow, Blaise, you suck at conversation. _

_Try to be a little more charming…_

"Me?" Ginny was definitely caught off guard. Then she gave him a dirty look. "That's right, the peasant children will be happy to do things for you."

"Oh, you think Malfoy…" Blaise laughed. "No, I don't think he's aware that you sew. He's not really terrible when you get to know him…kind of."

"If he's so nice why won't he leave Neville alone?" Ginny crossed her arms.

"Heh, Neville's just an easy target." Blaise waved a hand around. Ginny didn't look amused at all. "It's just…you know. I mean, he's okay but he's not like…_me_ or anything."

"Like you, how?" Ginny's voice was bordering on defensive. Blaise tried to think of what would get her in a good mood, probably if he gave an honest opinions. That's the kind of thing that group would go in for.

"I'm very good looking." Blaise pointed out. "And Neville's not really. He's nice but he's not going to marry some great beauty or anything. He'll probably never fall passionately in love with anyone. And even if he does, it'll be unrequited. He wouldn't have any friends if people didn't feel bad for him. Like you."

"Wow." Ginny nodded her head for a minute. Then she pulled out her wand and before Blaise could think to duck out of the way, she uttered a curse. "_Petrificus Totalus._"

He fell over, stiff as a board. Ginny put her hands on her hips and bent over at the waist to make sure he heard her.

"That is the most pig-headed, vile thing I have ever heard _in my life_!I think any girl in the world would much rather fall in love with Neville than with you! He's a million time better than you! For your information, people are friends with Neville because he's a decent human being, something I'm sure you don't know anything about." Ginny straightened up and started to walk off. "And you can fix your own bloody trousers!"

A minute later, someone started laughing. It was Draco. He had followed and had watched the whole exchange while being partly hidden by some curtains.

"You know, I thought I'd get to watch something mildly amusing, but I have to say, that was the funniest thing I've seen all week." Draco wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "For that, I'll take the curse off." He took out his wand and did the countercurse

"I don't know what went wrong…" Blaise started to get up. "I guess she's good friends with Neville."

"We could steal a thing of dead spiders from the Potions room and put them in his bed." Draco suggested. "Or live ones."

"I don't know." Blaise thought of Ginny's angry words. "I don't think she'd like that."

"So? Who cares what the poor think? If I spent all my time worrying about what other people thought, I'd be Potter." Draco smirked.

"It's not going to hurt anything if we lay off him for awhile…" Blaise tried quietly.

"Do you realize what Potter might think if he comes back and hears we laid off Longbottom for awhile?" The blonde-haired boy looked as though Blaise had just announced they stopped breathing for awhile. "Please. He'll think we do it to get at him."

"Isn't that why you do it?" Blaise asked slowly. Draco sputtered for a few minutes before straightening his clothes and quickly regained his composure.

"Nott's right, you _are _annoying." Draco strolled off and Blaise looked to go after him but for a moment, half considered going after Ginny. No, it was probably better not to.

_What does she see in Neville that she doesn't see in me?_

_Aren't I much better looking than him?_

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"Hey, look what I found!" Cho came bustling up with a large book. Ginny hadn't really gotten much research done, but was glad to get out a little of her frustration on someone—especially as someone as bigheaded as Blaise. Ginny, Luna, and Neville were sitting in the common room with a few books, trying to find a way to keep Trevor safe. "I was in the library today and I found a book on the Eternal Snowlands!"

"'The Mysterious Snowlands of the North by Farold Granger.'" Ginny read the cover. "Is he related to Hermione?"

"I think I remember her saying something once." Neville put in helpfully. "Is there anything interesting in it?"

"Quite a bit, though he does go on about the ice fairies…" Cho put a considering hand to her face. "Apparently they like to throw parties."

"Do you think they're okay? You know…up there?" Neville asked.

"Oh, they are." Luna nodded happily. Everyone stared at her for a moment. "They seem like they all have good enough reflexes to dodge snow zombies."

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Er, random chapter. I thought it would be fun not to forget our people back at the castle. Don't worry, we'll get back to the group trudging through the snow. (Actually, see, it's my clever way of making time pass in between the Veela Village and…er, what comes next.) It took me forever to write this chapter even though I really liked the idea of writing what everyone else was up to. Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

There's always an upside and a downside to planning your story out in advanced. The upside is that I know what's going to happen and don't write myself into a corner. The downside is it makes me feel like I already completed the story and sometimes forget I haven't. So I'm on it now. Like, right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Snow. Lots of snow.

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The Eternal Snowlands

Chapter Seven

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Harry was sick of snow. All day they tramped through it and at night everyone was happy for a hot cup of tea. He was longing for something green. The mountains were only a small break. The pass offered snow and a variety of rocky crags that made it look less hospitable than the rest of the land.

The wind blew fiercely there and it was very slow going. Chionia walked ahead of them, looking undisturbed, while Harry stepped into yet another drift that ended with his leg sinking to mid thigh in snow. Tonks missed it but managed to fall flat on her face anyways.

Nobody spoke either. They were just waiting to see the end of the Impregnable Mountains.

While taking a rest, conversation revived itself. They had found a very shallow sort of cave so that they could be out of the howling wind and snow.

"I wish we could fly!" Tonks exclaimed in an irritable sort of way. She was emptying snow from her boots and drying her socks with a spell.

"You want to fly in this?" Ron asked incredulously.

"If only we could Apparate." Fred shook his head.

"Haven't you done it before?" Hermione looked up from where she was helping Ron enchant his snowsuit dry. (He had accidentally fallen through some ice. It had only gone up to his waist but soaking wet clothes could end in hypothermia. (Hermione got annoyed when they called it 'the chills'.) They had done a temporary warmth spell before they found the little cave.

Harry had heard about Fred, George, and Ginny's adventures but strangely, they didn't often tell the story. He got the sense that they thought of it as private.

"Yes and no." Fred answered.

"We did Apparate but we think it was really Ginny." George elaborated. "Sometimes we get the feeling that Ginny's going to get a lot more powerful than us."

"Are we ready?" Chionia was standing just inside the little cave. "We shouldn't stop for long."

"Almost." Ron shoved on his boot. "We're going as fast as we can."

"It's not that I am impatient. It's just that the mountains are the home of the Shivering Boy." Chionia explained; her sharp features in a frown.

"The Shivering Boy?" Harry was re-adjusting his goggles.

"He is the soul of all those who've died in the cold." Chionia answered solemnly. "He can sense those who are dying, those who feel the cold. And whatever he touches—he kills."

"This whole land is covered in snow, it's freezing cold, there's crazy women who think your tasty, snow drifts that haven't been braved since Hermione's second cousin or whatever came here, _and _some twitchy kid is going around freezing people to death? Why would the Death Eaters even come here?" Ron ranted.

"It is a cruel land." Chionia nodded. "But it is my land."

"Sorry." Ron shook his head. "But I can't wait to get back."

"Ron!" Hermione hit his arm. "You don't have to be rude about it."

"Tell me this place isn't crazy." Ron insisted defensively.

"Come on. The sooner we get there, the better." Harry started out and into the wind. As the wind whipped at his face, Harry couldn't help but agree with Ron.

He thought he heard a small, distant voice speaking.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold."

It made him shiver.

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Mt. Niobe was in front of them. It was a little apart from the Impregnable Mountains, so it stood rather prominently in front of them.

Chionia's whole demeanor changed. She was bright and cheerful. (In a very reserved, Queen of the Eternal Snowlands sort of way.)

It had taken almost a week to get through the mountains. Mt. Niobe was no different from the others—snowy, cold, and gray stone peeked out at them from under the white.

"Oh, bother." Hermione had been trying to tie her hair back and finally given up. "I'll be glad for a proper bath…even through my gloves my hair feels disgusting…"

"I will be able to give you that wish after we re-capture my palace." Chionia promised.

"What exactly is the plan on that?" Tonks asked Fred and George who shrugged and pointed to Harry.

"Er…" Harry tried to think. "Well, how many are there?"

"Four." Chionia answered promptly.

"Maybe we can trick them." Harry resisted the urge to scrub his hand through his hair. For one, it would just slide right through because they're lack of proper baths made all their hair greasy and lank. (Tonks took to turning into Snape to make them feel better.) And the other thing was that he knew they were counting on him and he didn't want to let them down. "Or…or something. We'll decide when we know everything."

Although the mountain seemed close, they still hadn't reached it by nightfall. They were set up camp and got settled in for the night. Chionia obviously wished they could go on without it but she understood they needed rest. She once asked why but in the middle of an explanation of epic proportions from Hermione, she decided she didn't really need to know.

However, the wind picked up that night and was howling so loudly that they could barely sleep. They suited up long before dawn. Hermione was wondering if there was a way to enchant a cup of tea so that it was always hot, but didn't go on getting hotter.

"I suppose there's a type of cooking magic…" Hermione frowned as they began tramping through the snow. "Though I think they just use regular hearths with magical fires…"

Day broke a few hours later and when Harry looked to the north, he saw something shining brilliantly. It was way off but everyone could see it.

"It's my palace." Chionia barely glanced at it. "I find myself very worried about my nixies. They have never been…on their own."

"So, they're like your children?" Tonks inquired.

"Children?" Chionia coked her head to one side.

"Yeah, except that you didn't…er…" Tonks blushed. "Get married." She finished lamely. George and Fred nearly fell over with laughter.

"I didn't give birth to them." Chionia's tone was frostier than usual.

There was something like a trail going up Mt. Niobe. They began to go up it, and found themselves with a small drop on one side that was growing higher with each step and the mountain on their other side. They had only climbed a little of the mountain when Chionia stopped them.

Her stark white hand pressed against what appeared to everyone else as just more gray rock. She closed her eyes, her brow furrowed. Chionia's lips moved silently and the wind began to pick up.

With her hair floating behind her, snowflakes began to form, not up in the air but around her, dancing about in a very unreal way. And then all of the snowflakes suspended themselves in mid air for only a moment before swirling into her hand. There was a bright flash that they all had to shield their eyes from—even with their goggles on. A rumbling noise shook the ground and when they looked at Chionia, they saw she was standing at the opening of a cave.

"I'm back." She murmured and they all went marching into the darkness.

The opening closed behind them but they were glad to be out of the snow.

A small torch turned a corner ahead of them, the flame was blue and white, but that wasn't the strangest thing to see right then.

It was the torch bearer.

Its skin was blue-white; its large eyes were white except for a black pupil. The hair was a deep ocean sort of blue. It was obviously female and was wearing a little white dress that barely covered it.

On her back was a pair of glistening wings that were shaped like a butterfly's.

"Your highness!" The nixie (Harry thought it couldn't possibly be anything else) dropped the torch. Chionia clapped her hands and torches were suddenly burning on the walls. The nixie's voice was high-pitched and expression was comically exaggerated. (They would soon learn that all the nixies were overly expressive). "You're back!"

"What?" A chorus of voices asked from beyond the corner. In ten minutes, the cavern was crammed full of nixies who were all trying to talk at once and hug Chionia, who was doing her best to act regal in the situation. Although she looked faintly annoyed, Harry saw that she was happy to be with her nixies again.

_It's like a family…_

"Yes, I am very happy to see all of you but could you please be QUIET!" Chionia's voice rang out and all the nixies cringed.

"Highness, highness!" One nixie immediately forgot. "Are we going home? Are these things all powerful wizards?" She gestured towards Harry and the others.

"Powerful wizards!" Another nixie (they all looked exactly the same) exclaimed. "Really, really?"

"Us?" Hermione guessed.

"Wizards from the Greenlands!" Another nixie joined in and they all began chattering at once.

"Not a lot of ice I hear!"

"What do they skate on?"

"There's _some _ice. _Some _of the time."

"Yes, but then how do they fly?"

"They haven't got wings!"

"Neither do snow bunnies!"

"Those don't fly either."

"That's my point!"

"SILENCE!"

All the nixies yelled in mock fright and ran a little away from Chionia.

"Now," Chionia held up her hands. "We will have a council meeting and decide how to take back our home."

"Then a party, then a party!" The nixies chanted back.

"We'll hold off the party until _after_ we take back the palace." Chionia frowned at them.

"Party now, party then!" One nixie grinned.

"No parties!" Chionia snapped. "Now, we need to go to the council room."

They were led to a large room with much enthusiasm from the nixies. Harry and the others didn't know how Chionia, in all her Queen of the Eternal Snowlands glory could be the ruler of such a crazy bunch of fairies.

When they were all seated and Chionia sent the nixies off to bring them all warm drinks (even though only about half of them left the room), they decided to start trying to figure out what to do.

"We'd do better if there was cover." Harry suggested. "Chionia, you can make it snow, right?"

"Yes." Chionia nodded. "How much snow?"

"A lot." Harry decided.

"Then we can sneak up on them." Hermione suggested. "Although, won't it be harder to get to the palace if we have to tramp through a blizzard?"

"Hermione's right." Ron agreed. Then he frowned for a moment. "Wait, can the nixies fly?"

"We can, we can!" The nixies chorused together.

"They need ice though to get into the air. It won't be hard to find some and if all else fails, we can just freeze water outside." Chionia informed them.

"Wait…" Fred began to put two and two together. "If they can fly…why didn't you have a bunch of them waiting for us at the Bay of Snowdrops?"

"I'm afraid I didn't think of that." Chionia looked a little ashamed.

"Can they carry us?" Harry asked. "Because then we could attack at daybreak. Chionia can summon up a blizzard and then we'll be at the palace in no time."

"They'd be able to carry you." Chionia affirmed. "If this plan succeeds, by tomorrow night, we can be at my palace, having a victory feast."

"We may have to skip that." Tonks looked uneasy. "I'm surprised no one's arrived to drag us back to Hogwarts by now."

"Let's hope we can get this done before they do." Harry wondered how bad the trouble would be. Would he be expelled? Thrown out of Hogwarts? Where would he go? Back to the Dursleys?

_It doesn't matter, I've got to help._

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Woo. Harry's saving people thing. I know, it's kind of a transitional chapter before the big attack, but I needed it. I like the nixies. Well, more next time and I hope everyone leaves a review.


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